The Elemental Country Paintball Assosiation
by Ralph Lionheart
Summary: Naruto and crew are your normal Group of Teenage paintball players with dreams of making it into the ECPA but will those dreams come true with school and increasing personal danger? rating changed for now might move back up in future.
1. Chapter 1

Another Naruto AU…

By Ralph Lionheart.

(A/N) Hey guy's Ralph's back with another new story and first off I would like to say that Naruto Protecting the dream isn't abandoned I just happen to have a major case of writers block pertaining to that story but I do plan on continuing it. Secondly this story is another Naruto and crew in High-School AU's but it will still be uniquely me. So if you would give me the pleasure of giving it a shot and then sending me a review on what you think about it I would greatly appreciate the feed back. Now my spelling and grammar isn't the best by any stretch but I do use spell check for what that's worth. If you'd like to beta for me send me a PM.

Chapter 1

Chance encounters and unusual Hobbies.

Hinata Hyuga sat at her desk staring at the ever slow moving clock…

'2:55! Just five more minuets of this torture…' she thought as she leaned back in her chair popping her back in the process against it's back.

Her teacher and classmates where thinking along similar lines. You see it was the final day of the term at Konoha's Leaf Academy Private school. 'Why couldn't I have just gone to public school they are already out for the summer..' Hinata grumbled to her self all day she had been sneaking glances out her window to see kids her age going here and there enjoying the first days of summer.

'Oh yeah that's right I'm the heir to a million dollar cooperation so I must attend a prestigious school.' She thought recalling the conversation she had with her father her freshmen year. She was now a sophomore and was about to be a junior. And in those two years she had yet to make any friends. She just didn't fit in with the snobby prep school environment. She couldn't stand the generally snobby and snooty attitude that ninety plus percent of the school had.

'2:59! One more minuet!' she thought and watched the second hand slowly make it's way down the clock face only to come back up after reaching the six. And after what seamed like an eternity it reached the twelve and a chime sounded through out the school signifying the end of the day and with it the end of her second term as a sophomore as well as the end of the school year.

Everyone rose hurriedly trying to head for the door as her Teacher Iuka called out, "See you all in two months Juniors."

"Thank you Iruka-Sensei." Hinata said waving a farewell to her instructor on of the few people that she actually like because he didn't carry the snooty persona that permeated the atmosphere of the school.

Before long Kids all began to poor from the Victorian styled campus leaving for the summer. She exited the main building along with the crowd and began making her way down the steps and onto the school grounds. There was three building to the campus the main building against the North wall and then slightly smaller buildings along the East and West. The main building stood towering above her at least four story with it's Victorian Architecture. She looked back glad to be able to get away from it's imposing height for a few months. While some students returned to the dorms to pack there bags to return home for the summer she began making her way to the gated exit of the schools compound. Her house being a short distance away allowed her to walk to and from school on most days. So as she left the gates she turned in the proper direction and began her trek home.

As she walked her uniform became quite hot so she unbuttoned all of the buttons to the sweater vest except the bottom one witch allowed it to open and let a cooling breeze blow against the thin fabric of her white dress shirt as she loosened the black tie that was around her neck. Her uniform consisted of black round toed flats that buckled securely near the ankle as well as knee length stockings. And a plaid skirt that rested just an inch or so above her knees, a white dress shirt and black tie and a v cut button down sweater vest. Upon the vests right breast was the Leaf Academy crest a leaf formed from on continuous swirling line.

She smiled as she ran a hand threw her short cropped hair. Unlike most of the girls who attended the Academy with her she didn't grow her hair out. And because of it she was teased by others with names like Dyke and Lezbo. But she didn't care her mother had worn her hair this way and it was her way of remembering her.

That simple act brought her thoughts back to that place and oh how she hated it. In truth she had no friends because she didn't fit in. And because of it she had become shy and introverted never really speaking to anyone unless spoken to. The only person she really liked was her teacher Iruka but he was still a teacher and nothing more in her eyes. He just happened to be the only nice one.

She shook her head and pushed the thoughts out of her head. It was summer and she wouldn't have to deal with any of those people for two full months. She looked up and saw the fork in the street she was following. The left would take her to her house and the right would send her deeper into town. Deciding she wanted to continue to walk around and enjoy the day she pulled out her phone and messaged her father that she wouldn't be home tell later and made her way down the right side of the fork and into town. She reached into her purse and pulled from it and MP3 player and placed the headphones in here ear and put it to shuffle and began listening to music smiling as she walked.

She walked for about a half hour and before a sound came in through her music that she didn't have up to loud. It sounded kind of like gun fire but not quite as loud or lethal sounding. She looked off the bridge she was crossing and saw a bunch of net's that where at least a hundred feet long a peace. And behind these nets what looked like a war was taking place. People where running hear and there shooting at one another with the guns that where making the sound she was hearing and taking cover behind inflatable obstacles. Some of witch where shaped like pyramids or big soda cans while others where long and narrow.

The people in the net's closest to her caught her attention they where probably only fifty feet away so she could see them well from the vantage point of the street she was walking on.

The game they where playing was far to chaotic for her to really understand so she just watched blankly until the game ended. The two sides switch to opposite ends of the field one team looking straight at her they all gathered around a structure that looked kind of like a sign witch she figured was a starting point as the team closest to her did the same. They all put a hand on it and shifted there weight forward as if to run from it. And after a few seconds a whistle blasted from the other people who wore referee jerseys and in an instant every tore away from the boxes and brought their guns to bear on the enemy team. The rapid fire reports of the gas powered guns filled the air as well as a unique plunking sound of the ammunition fired from each gun struck the inflatable cover objects.

"So this is Paintball…" she said to herself as one player walked off the field with a bright yellow splatter it was kind of shocking to see these people playing the game it was obviously strategic and not just people running around shooting paint at each other like she thought. From what she could see everyone made moves while coordinating with there team to press there attack while simultaneously reacting to the enemy counter attack. It was similar to watching a chess game as each move was meticulously thought out before being made. A rock song started to play from her MP3 player as a player form the team that had started facing her took off at a run from a place further back the field closer to her before leaping into the air and diving on his chest into a set of low cover. The song matched the tempo of the game well and further served to pump Hinata up as she watched eagerly.

The boy she watched run into the low cover began to crawl along it's length and every now and then he would pop up and fire a bit. Hinata could see him using both index and middle fingers to walk across the long trigger causing the rapid fireing sounds that where coming into her ears over the distorted guitars of the rock music. The team the boy played for was ahead as most of the other team was eliminated.

Then she saw the boy in the low cover stand and sprint towards the last remaining player on the other team. He brought his gun to bear and fired several shots at point blank range. The shots stitched up his targets arm and ended with a splatter across the facemask that each player wore.

The boy looked himself over for paint along with a referee and then proceeded to grab a flag that had been hung over the other teams start box and walked back to the other side of the field where his teammate where whooping and trading high fives at there victory.

Hinata suppressed a laugh as the boy hung the flag one of his teammates ran at him and jump on him like a soccer team would celebrate after scoring a big goal. The other three joined in the dog pile as there calls could be heard from where she was.

Eventually the boy extricated himself from the pile and looked up and noticed her looking out over the field. Despite the distance and the fact that his mask had a chrome mirror finish she could tell they where looking each other in the eyes. She could almost see the confident smirk behind the mask as he waved at her before he and his team exited the field.

It was then she noticed that the sun was starting to set so she made her way home by turning around and heading back the way she came.

Part way through retracing her steps she took a shortcut that she knew to get her home faster. It was starting to get close to dinner time and not many people frequented the streets like before but she did notice a group of three men sitting around on the corner of the street she needed to turn down to make it home.

When she approached they stopped her. "Hey what's a girl like you doing out all by yourself?" the man said causing her to take a better look at him. He was probably about for years her senior putting him at about twenty. His head was shaved bald and he had several piercings on his face including nose, lip, and eyebrow, and had a menacing quality in his all most yellow brown eyes.

"Yeah there's bad people in this town who would love to do horrible things to a girl like you." Another one spoke up almost equally as ugly with his chopped up neon pink hair and similar piercings.

The other one merely laughed being the biggest out of the bunch and obviously not the brightest bulb out of the three. But he was tall muscular and had greasy blond hair that needed to be washed with a fire hydrant.

"I'm just making my way home if you will excuse me…" she said trying to push past the goons but the bald one stuck out an arm and grabbed forcefully by the hip.

"Not so fast baby we wouldn't want anything to happen to you…" he said his obvious sarcasm not lost on Hinata. 'this is going bad…' she though with a little edge of panic welling up with in her chest.

"Let go of me!" she said loudly pushing with all of her strength against the mans arm to break his hold. It broke and she tried to run but the bald one called.

"Larz Grab her! Don't let her get away." And the dumb on moved quickly and grabbed her by the shoulders where he then quickly pinned her against the wall of an apartment building none to gently.

Hinata felt her breath leave her as her back made contact with the wall. Reacting quickly on instinct she kicked her left foot out where it made contact with the big mans groin.

He quickly let go of her as he cupped himself and bit his lip in pain. The bald one seeing this quickly reacted and back handed her across the face.

Her check exploded in pain as she lost her balance and emitted a yelp as she hit the ground hard skinning her knee in the process.

"that wasn't nice you little bitch…" said his voice was cold and hard and lacked the earlier sarcasm.

He grabbed her by the hair and began to drag her off towards a near by alley. "AH! LET GO OF ME!" she yelped as he pulled her hair harder continuing to drag her.

The pain forced her eye's shut while she continued to futilely struggle. When she heard the sound of feet running heavily against the concrete and someone shout "HEY!" Followed quickly by the sound of a fist colliding with flesh.

The man who was holding her hair let go and emitted a strange noise as he fell away from the girl. Hinata opened her eye's to see a boy standing in front of her. He was tall about 5'11 with long blond hair that fell down around his head in disorderly spikes. The clothing he wore was unique in her opinion his pant where black all the way up to his thighs and from there they broke into a digital urban cammo pattern up to the waist. The knees of the pants seemed to be padded as well and they appeared to be covered in brown and yellow dirt. He also wore a under armor t-shirt that show off the tone of his chest and stomach. He stood facing away from her staring down the three goons that where trying to take her.

"I believe the lady wanted to be let loose." The boy said his voice tinged with a hard edge that carried a clear threat.

"You've done gone and screwed up now…" the man the boy punched said as he rose to his feet spitting a little blood from his mouth where the boys fist cause him to bite his cheek.

The boy didn't respond he only just lowered his stance a little and brought his fists to bear on the goons ready for anything.

"GET HIM!" the bald one called and his two buddies rushed forward with him bringing up the rear.

Hinata had taken the time bought by her savior to back off of the group and get to her feet. She watch as the big one reached the boy first and tried to hit him with a old fashioned hay maker on for the boy to reach out and grab his arm and use his momentum against the big man and send him running into the wall where a audible crunch could be heard as the mans nose connected with it.

"You'll pay for that!" the pink haired man called as he snapped out a kick witch the boy blocked with a forearm. The boy used the hole in the mans guard to lash out with a right handed punch to the chest followed closely by the left this time aimed for the face. The blow grazed off and the bald man entered the fray trying to hit the boy from behind.

The boy must have had some fighting experience though because he sensed the presence behind him and spun out of the way to avoid the punch to the back of his skull. And before the bald man could react the boy brought him into a clinch and drove a knee into his chest.

Though not super effective due to the padding of his pant it still stung and cause him to double over allowing the boy to send a viscous uppercut to the mans teeth and knocking the bald man on his back.

The pink haired guy tried to attack from behind but soon found him self being tossed over the boy's shoulder and onto his very own boss.

"You boy's had enough yet?" The boy asked with a smirk adorning his face.

During the quick exchange Hinata was able to get a clear look at the boys face he had cobalt blue eye's that where set and hard as he looked at the mean slowly picking themselves off the floor. His eyes glanced at her for a second and lightened before turning back to the matter at hand.

"Your gonna pay for that kid we where taking it easy on you. But now where gong to kill you…" the bald man said reaching in his pocket he produced a butterfly knife witch he opened showing a certain level of skill with the flashy weapon.

The pink hard man fooled with something around his waste for a second before unhooking a chain witch he began to spin vertically off to his right side away from his boss.

"YOU BROKE LARZ NOSE!" the big one yelled, sure enough the mans face was covered in blood and his nose was slanted at a funny angle witch explained why he sounded even dumber to prior the fight. "NOW LARZ BREAK YOU!" He yelled again as he reached inside his pockets to produce a pair of brass knuckles.

"Come on guys this hardly seems fair…" the boy said putting his arms up defensively.

"That's the point idiot." The pink haired man said failing to catch the hint of dry sarcasm in the boys voice.

"Get Him!" the bald man said as the three charged with their weapons.

Now Hinata was afraid for the boy and finally shocked out of her mild stupor as she reached for her purse to pull out her phone to dial the police.

The three goons attacked as one with the pink haired man lashing out low with his impromptu whip. And the heavy man following behind the attack with the knuckle duster set to do prime damage.

The boy hopped over the chain but couldn't avoid the fist completely as the spike closest to the big mans pinky finger cut along the outside of face right next to his eye. The boy didn't call out but only gritted his teeth in pain as he jumped back to avoid a knife strike from the bald guy.

The situation appeared hopeless to Hinata as the boy continued to avoid the weapons. Tell he saw a chance they had back him up against a light poll and the pink haired man lashed out with the chain only for the boy to duck the strike allowing it to wrap around the poll.

With the boy seizing the opportunity pressed an attack on the chain in the form of a mighty cloths line that made the mans head bounce sickeningly off the pavement rendering him unconscious.

"YOU PAY!!" the big man yelled launching a new assault against the boy who had disabled one of his comrades. The boy was placed on his heals as he ducked and dodged the mans heavy hands.

He continued this until coming against the apartment wall where he ducked low to avoid the brass knuckles aim for his head

Hinata had just hung up her phone having alerted the authorities heard the gut wrenching crunch as the brass knuckles cracked the apartment wall and shattered the mans hand. "AHH!!!" he screamed in pain grabbing the shattered appendage.

The boy made a split decision and decided to remove the big man from the fight before he decided to go berserk again. Still in a low crouch from ducking the life ending punch he sprang forward into the big mans gut where he continued to pump his feet against the massive weight until he slammed the big guy into a newspaper holder. Thankfully it was bolted down so it didn't budge.

The big guy slumped as the air was sucked out of his lunges by the impact and the boy launched two powerful right hand into the mans face before backing off allowing for him to slump forward and look down.

The boy not wanting to allow for the dangerous threat to get back up quickly chambered a kick in his right leg before releasing it like a football punter. Knocking the mans head back into the glass of the newspaper stand.

The boy stood coming out of his fighting stance and looked like he was about to breath a sigh of relief when Hinata saw the knife wielding man try to sneak from behind to stab the boy in the back of the head. "LOOK OUT!!!" she called as the man lunged at him.

Here the girls warning he turned just in time to see the knife come at his face. He pulled his head to the left and the blade missed his mouth by centimeters but still cut deeply into his cheek.

"Ah!!" the boy let out a startled cry as he brought his fist up in a uppercut that more than likely shattered the bald mans jaw.

The man fell knife clattering to the ground behind the boy with a heavy thud and a groan. Hinata was in shock to say the least she had been single handily saved by a boy she didn't even know. He turned and she noticed his eye's shown with certain happiness about him and he wore a smirk on his face that gave him a very foxish appearance despite the cut near his eye and the deep gash on his right cheek. This was the boy that she had lock eye's with at that paintball field as the clothing he wore clicked into place those where the same pants the boy had worn but instead of the under armor shirt he had been weary a long sleeved jersey that matched to his pants. But it was unmistakably him.

"Um… Hi" he said sounding awkward in this situation as the blood from his cheek dripped down onto his under armor shirt. He brought up a hand that had bloody knuckles from the fighting and rubbed the back of his head. "My names Naruto Uzumaki and I don't think we've met. I would offer you a hand to shake but they are a little messed up right now, but what's your name?" He asked smiling while bleeding.

Well that's it for this chapter what do you think so far? Send me a review and let me know what you think I wrote this chapter at work btw. But anyways I still plan on continuing Protecting the dream but I just need to get past my writers block for that story so I'm not forcing bad ideas just to turn out chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

(A/N) Hey guys thanks for the supportive reviews Well anyways here's the next chapter in Another Naruto AU. I'm trying to think up a different title right now because I'm actually liking this story so far.

Another Naruto AU

Chapter 2

Beginnings

Hinata stood rooted to the spot as the boy introduced himself as Naruto Uzumaki. You see he had just single handedly dispatched three thugs and survived relatively unscratched. Save for the wound next to his right eye and the long gash running deep along his left cheek.

Finally her ability to move and articulate returned as she said, "Oh my god your bleeding!" Rushing forward to check the wounds on his face as his gray and black under armor shirt stained red with blood pouring form the knife gash on his face.

"Huh?" He said as if he didn't realize that he was bleeding at all. As she dove a hand into the pocket of her skirt to fish out a handkerchief, "It's just a scratch really only a flesh wound." He said in a fashion similar to Monty python. but at that moment his humor was all but lost to Hinata as she pressed the cloth against the wound.

"Just a scratch? It's already soaked through the cloth." She said unusually forward and a bit sarcastic.

The boy locked his cobalt blue eyes with her lavender ones for a long moment allowing her to see into his very soul. Little did she know that she was doing the same. His eyes showed her that his pain was insignificant to the deed he had accomplished in protecting her and that he was truly happy. She delved deeper and saw the hard edge from a hard childhood but included there was a fierce determination. 'what have you experienced in your life?' she wondered.

Naruto himself could see the reflection of this girls soul in the lavender depths of her eyes. He could see the discontent in her eye's despite not knowing why. He could see the pain she felt for unknown reasons, but even through the pain kindness permeated her eyes.

He smiled at her closing off the gateway to his innermost self and placed his hand on her shoulders and squeeze lightly while being care full not to bleed on her. And said, "don't you know this thing looks worse than what it really is face wounds all ways bleed a lot." By now you could hear the sirens of the police and emergency response crews.

"Here I'll hold onto it so you don't wind up with blood all over your hands." He said running his left hand along her right arm to take the handkerchief from her.

She shivered a little from the contact of his warm hand against her cool flesh. He laughed a little and said. "So dose a pretty girl like you have a name?"

That statement shocked Hinata out of her bravery and she noticed that they were both lightly holding the other as her left hand was still holding onto the boys shoulder as his right did the same in turn to her while his left held the blood soaked cloth to his face.

She instantly blushed and let go of him and took a step back and said "H-Hinata H-Hyuga." and began berating herself for her stutter.

"Hinata, that's a beautiful name." he said before grinning even bigger as her blush deepened at the comment.

It was now that the police arrived as late as ever the car came to a stop and two officers got out and walked over to Naruto and Hinata.

"Naruto you again?" the officer said with a hint of exasperation as an ambulance pulled up to the police car.

"Yeah it's me how are you today officer Jacobs?" Naruto said looking rather sheepish.

"Good but I don't need to put you in bracelets this time do I?" he asked as he looked past the boy to see the three disheveled thugs that where slowly coming too.

"No it's the ones on the ground that broke the law I just intervened. And when have you had to put me in bracelets?" Naruto asked looking mildly angry.

"Well there was that time-" Officer Jacobs partner said before Naruto cut him off.

"Hey come on Tokogawa you know I was right about that one in the end." Naruto said with a slight blush.

"Yeah you where but you need to remember that it's not your place to carry out the will of the law." The man Tokogawa said as the began to round up the thugs.

The ambulance crew came out and moved over to Naruto, "May we see your wounds please sir?" one of the crew men asked.

Naruto only nodded and removed the cloth from the cut as the blood continued to pour anew.

"Hey Kin will you go and get my med kit he's going to need some stitches."

"Just a flesh wound?" Hinata said once again breaking out of her shyness.

Naruto only rolled his eyes as the medic returned with the bag and the other one began to dig through it before pulling out a hooked needle and thread.

"Here why don't we go sit down in the ambulance so I can do this easier?" The medic said and Naruto followed the guy over to the truck to get patched up as the police finished putting two of the goons into the swat car and third was being put into another car that had pulled up in the last couple of minuets.

Officer Jacobs came over as the car that held the big man took off to take the man to the hospital to have his hand patched up.

"So can we get your account of what happened?" he asked smiling at her kindly.

She nodded and retold how the goons had accosted her on her way home and how Naruto had came to her aid and beat the goons into submission, only stuttering every now and again.

"Well you are lucky that Naruto came by when he did. Those guys have pretty distinguished rap sheets." Jacobs said as he clicked his pen closed and tucked into his pocket above his badge.

"Yeah those guys where part of a local Yakuza gang, and are known for not playing nice." Tokogawa said as he walked away towards the ambulance where Naruto was.

"E-Excuse me." Hinata said looking at Officer Jacobs as he was getting ready to rejoin officer Tokogawa.

"Yes?" he said looking at the shy girl.

"Could, Could you tell me about Naruto it seams that you and him have a bit of History."

"I don't see why not though you should ask him yourself." The policemen said as he straightened his back up and crossed his arms.

"W-Well it's just He appears to be so happy. B-But s-sometimes I can see some hidden pain in his eyes. I was wondering why that is." She said looking at the ground in front of her she couldn't help but noticed the boy's blood still lay there pooled on the concrete.

"Oh that…" Officer Jacobs said looking over to the ambulance. "I can't give you specifics because it's not my place to say but I can tell you those are old wounds form his early childhood before his god father found him. But know this Naruto is a good kid and everyone on the force can attest to that but if you want to know about his past you'll have to ask him." The Polciemen said in a kind tone of voice.

"Ok t-thank you." She said and with that the two made there way over to the ambulance where the EMT's where finishing up with our hero.

"All done…" The medic said throwing the Needle he used away. They had given him ten stitches on his cheek and closed the cut on his eye with butterfly strips.

"Hey Hinata Officer Jacobs was nice to you wasn't he?" he said as he stood up with a smile on his face.

"Y-Yes he was." Hinata stuttered out with a blush.

"Good…" Naruto said with a nod of his head.

"Ok well we have your statements and the perpetrators in custody well contact you guys if we need anything else so with that you two are free to go." Jacobs said and Tokogawa nodded.

"Ok see you and Tokogawa Saturday for lunch like normal." Naruto said as the medics shut the door and drove off there job done.

"Right Have a good night Naruto and Stay safe." Tokogawa said as he and Jacobs got into their car and drove away with the other two goons in the back.

Once again the two where left alone. "Can I walk you home?" Naruto asked after a moment of silence past between them.

"H-Hai…" Hinata said with a slight smile and a faint blush.

"Cool." Naruto said he looked down and frowned at his shirt and said, "Let me grab my bag and change my shirt right quick I don't want to cause a fuss with all of this blood on it."

And with that he went over to a duffle bag that he had dropped on the ground before jumping into the fight.

Hinata watched as knelt down and opened the bag and began to rummage around for a few seconds before producing a clean t-shirt. "No peaking…" He said teasingly as he made his way to the alley to change out of her line of sight.

Hinata just blushed a bit and thought, 'why did he jump in a save me like that?' as she leaned against a light pole waiting for his return. 'I mean he fought for me with out even so much as knowing my name.' she brought her hand up to her forehead she was getting a head ache trying to figure out the blond paintball player.

"Hey are you ok?" Naruto said as he walked back out of the alley wearing the clean t-shirt. It was black and had a medieval type coat of arms blazoned on it with white with paintball guns off to the left and right in place of swords, and the words contract killer written underneath.

"huh…" Hinata said looking at him sideways.

"Are you ok? You look slightly feverish and your holding your head." Naruto said as he approached her noticing that she was still slightly flushed. He placed his hand on her forehead after removing hers.

"Well you don't seem feverish." He said as he removed his hand.

"I-m fine." Hinata said trying to fight her will to blush.

He moved back to his bag and placed the bloody under armor inside it before closing it and placing it on his shoulder.

"Well Now that I'm in with in all city hazmat laws we can get you home." Naruto said with a grin. (It's illegal to walk around with blood on your hands or clothing.)

"O-Okay" Hinata said with a small smile witch only served to increase Naruto's wide grin.

The two teens walked down the street with Hinata silently guiding them in the direction of her home.

"So, Hinata Right?" Naruto asked breaking the silence that had settled between the two.

"I noticed you where watching us play paintball earlier today. What did you think of it?" He asked placing his hands behind his head casually as he continued to walk next to her.

"I-It was i-interesting I have never seen paintball like that, I always thought it was a bunch of g-guys r-running aimlessly in t-the woods." She said.

"Well there is some of that but you can't fix dumb people. But paintball isn't an aimless sport nor is it a war simulation." Naruto said looking at her.

"I mean in some ways Scenario play can be because some scenarios are made from past military action but generally paintball is like playing long range tag. And the type of game you watch called speed ball can be a giant chess match depending on who's playing." Naruto said as they tuned a corner.

"I see." Hinata mumbled and the two fell back into silence.

They continued to make there way through the darkening city for a bit longer each breaking into introspective thoughts.

'I still don't see why he saved me, I didn't do anything to deserve his help, and if my father where to be there he would say that I was weak and couldn't defend myself from a few simple minded thugs.' She thought as she slipped into a small depression and began to feel insecure about being in the boy's presence.

Naruto himself had been thinking to himself as well, 'Why did I jump into that like I did.' He looked at the girl and noticed her fidgeting a little by pressing her index fingers together. 'I mean I would do it for anybody but I've never committed to defending someone so completely before I even intentionally took that knife across my cheek just so I could land that final blow. And didn't even know her name at the time…' he let out a sigh and brought his free hand up to his face where he lightly slapped his forehead and drug it down his face carefully to avoid the wound on his cheek.

'Oh great he probably thinks I'm weak too.' Hinata thought letting her insecurity rule over logical thought.

He looked at her and saw that she was in deep turmoil it looked like she was either about to run away or break down and cry.

And all of a sudden Hinata stopped and stood stone still. Naruto took a couple extra steps before he could cut his momentum and turn to face her.

"What's the problem Hinata?" Naruto asked looking at the girl. "Are you hurt?" He asked as he closed what little distance there was between them to grab her by the shoulders and then force her to look him in the eyes.

He was shocked to see the tears building in her eyes and the hurt and saddens held within the soft lavender depths.

"W-Why did you save me?" She asked her voice cracking not out of shyness but instead out of grief and insecurity.

"Why did I save you?" Naruto looked at her incredulously. "Why wouldn't I save you?" He asked dropping his hand from her shoulder.

"I don't know maybe you think you would get a reward, money perhaps." She said a lot of people knew that her father owned a huge cooperation perhaps the most powerful in the city.

"Money? You think that I would risk my life for money?" Naruto asked sounding just a little offended that she thought so shallow of them.

"Well maybe you would prefer something a little more physical then?" She asked as she spat forth a even worse idea that her brain had scrounged up. Acting out of furry she grabbed him and pinned him to a wall pressing her self against him and inching her face close to his. "Hmm…"

Naruto was to stunned to react very quickly but after his brain had finally caught up he grabbed her hips and pushed a way a little more rough than he had intended but it got her off of him so he could at least breath and defend himself.

"NO!" he said he was angry now. "I DIDN'T SAVE YOU FOR ANYTHING LIKE THAT!" he said dropping his duffle bag and throwing his arms wide.

"Then why did you?" Hinata asked still in the confines of her rage.

"I DID IT BECAUSE I WANTED TO!" Naruto yelled at her.

"BECAUSE YOU THINK I'M WEAK?" she yelled back tears now flowing down her face.

"I-" Naruto said but his anger left him instantly as she saw her began to shake with the sobs that where freely escaping from her mouth.

Something inside Naruto broke in that instant and he felt his compassion for this girl spread and he acted on auto pilot and slowly reached out and took her by the upper arms and brought her into his chest in a tight embrace thinking, 'who did this to you Hinata'

He held the girl for a moment before saying softly in her ear, "Hinata-chan I didn't save you for anything like the reasons you said. I did it because you where in a situation you needed help in not because your weak."

"So I was to weak to get out of it." She said between sobs.

"NO!" Naruto said shaking her a little. "Your not weak those where three grown men there was no way in hell you could over power all three of them at once." Naruto said after forcing her to look him in the eyes.

Hinata saw the compassion in the cobalt blue orbs and he sobs lessened a bit, "But you defeated all three of them on your own." She said with a sniffle while wiping her eyes."

"Yeah but I know my way around a street fight and maintained a higher situational awareness than them." Naruto said with a smile seeing the girl begin to climb out of her sorrow.

"I guess your right." Hinata said looking at the boy

"Hinata…" Naruto said speaking just above a whisper so only the two of them could here what was about to pass between them, not that there was anyone on the streets with them.

"Yes Naruto?" she asked also unable to bring her voice above a whisper

"Hinata-Chan I don't know who put those ideas in your head but please don't listen to them who ever they are. Your not weak I promise you that and you better believe it." He breathed the last part into existence and smirked at her causing her to be reminded of a fox.

Hinata didn't know what to think so she did the only thing she could think of and hugged him back in there embrace and do one thing she never thought she would do and kissed him on the cheek.

"OW!" Naruto said as she accidenlty kissed the tender knife wound on his face.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry." Hinata said before covering her mouth and stepping away.

"It's fine really just go for the other cheek next time." Naruto said with a smile witch caused Hinata to blush thinking about her previous action.

'I cant believe that I kissed him and I would pick the injured side of his face.' She thought still slightly mortified by her bad luck.

"Come on let's get you home before your parents send out a search party." Naruto said and the two began walking and talking again.

They talked about certain several different things as Naruto learned that It was just Hinata and her father sister and cousin that all lived as her mother and uncle had both passed away.

And Hinata learned that both of Naruto's parents where dead and he lived with his godfather on the other end of this same street.

They didn't talk about family for long as it seemed to be a mildly painful subject for both of them so they switched topics to another subject Paintball.

"Hey Hinata how would you like to come and play paintball with me and some of my friends?" Naruto asked looking at the girl and causing her to blush as she hadn't forgotten what she had done earlier.

"I don't know I've never played before, dose it hurt?" she asked as they made there way up the street and her home came into view.

"Well it stings for a minuet but after a while you don't even feel them hit you anymore. Come on it will be fun besides Sakura Chan would love to have some more female company." Naruto said with a laugh.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Hinata asked with only a slight hint of dejection in her voice.

"No I don't have one, she's one of my best friends and teammates though. But I could never date her, to painful." He said rapping his hand against the back of his head lightly to say he had been on the receiving end of some blows by the girl.

Hinata giggled at the comment and laughed a bit as they made it to the gates.

"Well this is my house." She said gesturing to the large all most mansion behind her.

"Nice." Naruto said smiling at her.

"Thank you so much for saving me and walking me home. And I'm sorry about freaking out on you back there." She said smiling not only because of the warm feelings that where between them but the fact that her stutter appeared to have been defeated after hearing his kind words.

"It's fine and I would do it all over again if I had to." He said still grinning from ear to ear.

"But hey seriously give it some thought about playing paintball with us I'd really like you to come, and I'm sure my friends would like you to." He said

She pushed the button to open the automatic gates and said, "Would you like to come in?"

"I would but unfortunately I can't it's late and I got to practice down at the field tomorrow along with the rest of my team, but we are all going to play some more after we get done. You see we gotta work to get good enough to make the league." Naruto said grinning

"If you want you can come up there and get a better look at the game and then decide if you want to play." He said.

"Ok I would like that a lot thank you Naruto-kun." She said stepping behind the gate as they began to swing back

"All right see you later Hinata-Chan." Naruto said before running off into the city once more.

"Ok bye Naruto!" Hinata said yelling a little so he could hear her with a smile she turned and walked towards her house.

She entered her home and kicked off her flats before yelling, "I'm Home!"

One of the maids her father kept on staff came into the foyer and said, "Hinata-Sama your father has left on business to the land of waves and he wanted to inform you and your sister that you will be joining him in a few days for a family vacation." She said respectfully.

"Ok that sounds fun." She said will he thought to herself, 'so basically me and Hanabi will sit on the beaches all day long while father stays in his meetings.'

"So when do we leave?" She asked trying to sound excited.

"You will fly out the day after tomorrow." The maid said buying Hinata's faked sarcasm.

'Good at least I can meet Naruto and his friends tomorrow.' Hinata thought as she waved fair well to the maid and made her way to her room for the night

Mean while Naruto had just stepped into his house when he heard, "Your late brat." Naruto looked up at the sound of the voice and saw a man who looked to be in his late forties to early fifties with a long main of white hair. And brown eyes that where currently attempting to bore into his own blue ones in an attempt to be intimidating until he notices Naruto's patched wounds.

"What happened to you I thought you wore masks when you played Paintball?" as he walked up close to him.

"You do this didn't happen because of paintball, well not directly at least." Naruto said to the man.

"Then what in the name of hell happened?" He asked

"I'm surprised Tokogawa hasn't already told you." Naruto said.

"I have been out of town all day working in the next village over and my phone didn't have service cause it's in the middle of no where." He said.

"Oh well then in that case I saw a beautiful girl watching us from the bridge by the Paintball fields after we won our last scrimmage for the day." Naruto said with a grin and the man's face instantly brightened at the news.

"OOOHHH! Did she have nice can?" He said making a lewd gesture of a cupping a woman's breast against his chest.

"There no hope for you is there Hentai?" Naruto said with a sigh

"I'm pleading the fifth on that one cause frankly it's none of you business."

"AW! Come on!" he said sounding disappointed.

"NO!" Naruto said a little louder than necessary, "Well anyway she walked off and after a little me and the rest of the Militia left the field and went our separate ways. And on the way home I saw that girl getting harassed by three low level Yakuza Thugs." Naruto said and the white haired man interrupted him.

"Yakuza! Naruto I told you to steer clear of those guys they are bad news." The white haired man said putting a hand on the boys shoulder.

"I know Jiraiya, but what was I supposed to do let those bastards have there way with her they where going to drag her off to an alley to rape her." He said feeling a little anger build up at what his god father had just said.

"No your right Naruto you did the right thing by stepping in I would have done the same thing in your shoes." He said.

"Well anyway I fought them off One got lucky and clipped me by my eye with a Knuckle duster and I had to take this knife slash across my check to get the leader." Naruto said.

"So I Guess that means that Tokogawa and his Partner showed up and carted them off afterwards." Jiraiya said.

"Yeah, then I walked the girl home and invited her to come and play with us at the field tomorrow." Naruto said with a grin.

"So did you get her name?" the elder of the two asked with a smile.

"Yeah Her Name's Hinata." He said casually and began making his way for the wash room.

"Hinata…" the pervert said, "She wouldn't be a Hyuga would she?" he asked none to lecherously.

"So what if she is?" he said with a sigh.

"OOOHHH! Naruto your taking after your godfather who would have thought you had a Champaign taste in women." He said still as perverted as ever

"Don't kid you self…" Naruto said before stepping into the washroom to clean his clothing.

(A/N) Hey everyone sorry if this is short and not very exciting I Just wanted to get this out. My grand dad past away and delayed this chapter greatly. Well anyways next chapter more action is garunteed. (Edit 5/11/09) hey guys I had to edit this chapter to avoid a plot hole in the next chapter and I also fixed some of the Japanese spelling errors. The next chapter should be up in a day or so if my muse keeps functioning.


	3. Chapter 3

(A/N) Hey guys here the next chapter this chapter actually contains some paintball action. Now incase your wondering here is a little bit of information on the Sport. It's the largest Extreme Sport in America (Bigger than Both Snowboarding and Surfing) and is played in over 110 countries World Wide. It's also one of the safest sports in existence, with on .033 % injuries per 1000 players in a national survey, compared to Bowlings .05%. All of the above information can be googled with ease.

Now there are different types of paint ball Woodsball and Speedball. Woodsball is well obviously played in the woods and is probably the most recognized version of the game. But the type of Paintball that stands out most in this story is Speedball. Speedball is like any Paintball game where the object is to eliminate your opponents and secure an objective (All most always a flag.). What makes Speedball special though is the size of the field a typical Speedball field is only about 100 feet wide and 180 feet long (in bounds) and forces the competing teams into close combat making aggression individual shooting skills and communication key to victory. Now the available cover can vary and be anything from special inflatable bunkers to stacked up hay bails and pallets or even rubber pipes used in drains and such. If you would like to see videos of professional teams playing speed ball there are actually quite a few on You Tube. So just go do a search for professional paintball. A really good video to look up is titled Paintball at its best it gives you a pretty good look at tournament styled paintball even though it's a bunch of clips from NPPL Boston a few years ago. And if you wonder what a whole game looks like you can check out the PSP webcast of this years Phoenix event as well as the Midatlantic Open at .com and then hit there webcast link. Just register and watch it for free.

Ok Now with out further talk on with chapter 3

The Elemental Country Paintball Association

Chapter 3

Lifestyle

The sun rose like it did every day over the City of Konoha and gently began to filter light threw the windows of the houses. It was around this time that an alarm clock began to ring awaking a young man from his deep sleep. His hand shot out and with practiced aim silenced the annoying contraption. "Damn clocks always waking me up…" He grumbled while sitting up.

He yawned and stretched removing his cartoony night cap in the process and letting his blond hair tumble down in lopsided spikes stopping just before his eyes. 'Well I better get ready we got a hard days practice ahead of us.' He thought before swinging his legs over his bed and standing up to his full height of nearly six feet.

He made his way to the bathroom that was adjoined to his room where he proceeded to perform life's necessities such as showering, shaving, and brushing ones teeth.

After finishing he exited the bathroom in his boxers and made way over to his dresser where he rummaged around before producing a black sleeveless under armor shirt witch he slipped on he then placed an orange t-shirt on over it and then left his room to head down stairs. He walked down into the living room and found his gear bag where he left it and brought it with him into the kitchen before ducking into the laundry room.

He returned from the Laundry room wearing the Paintball pants he had worn the previous day having washed them along with the jersey he had in his hand.

He sat down at the kitchen table and saw a note and a stack of pancakes left for him by his god Father it read 'Naruto sorry but I had to go in to my clinic early today but I left you a stack of pancakes just nuke them for a little and they should be fine. I'll be back later tonight remember to tell me how your team practice goes.'

Naruto smiled and sat about eating his breakfast. Afterwards he got up and left his home with his gear bag in toe to go to the field his friends would be arriving soon so he caught the bus and rode to the field.

The bus dropped him off about a half block away so he made it in no time and it was only about 11:30. He stepped onto the field's parking lot and made his way for the entrance.

He walked through front doors and could help but grin the place was fairly standard as far as shops went high sealing and concrete floors. Off t the left Naruto could see the apparel section that took up a quarter of the store then off to the right he could see the counter where a gamut of stuff was kept behind it, along the walls where markers of all brands and sorts. Then directly underneath the specialized paint weapons laid several kinds of paints from varying makers. This field has a proshop built into it to satisfy the needs of every player to come into the shop. Naruto waved at the person behind the counter and began to walk over as she waved back.

"Hey Naruto you're a little early today no one else has shown up yet." The young woman said as he approached.

"Yeah I always like to be early when I can help it Shizune-nee" Naruto said to the woman.

"I can tell, so do you need paint or something?" She asked

"Hmm let me check…" Naruto said before setting his gear bag on the ground and rummaging through it for a second before producing a bucket that had two small openings in it one larger than the other.

He opened the larger of the two and look inside before shaking his head that he was fine on game level paint for the moment. He put the paintball caddy up and produced his air tank, "I think were practicing today, so were going to need some practice paint, and while your at it can I get a refill?" He asked handing her his tank, it was a large and cylindrical in design with a rounded bottom and top. On the outside he had a cover to protect it from getting dinged up. The cover it's self was a black and white checker pattern with the Empire logo written on it including the symbol of a diamond sitting horizontally with two lines forming and X shape behind them at the top left and bottom right the lines met with a slash making them look vaguely like a capital T and then the remaining two lines ran into a slash than ran away from the rest of the logo.

"I still can't believe that you got Tsunade-sama to sponsor you guys under those terms. I mean you guys aren't even ranked as Genin anymore…" Shizune said without thought and she instantly regretted it.

"You know I won that bet with the old lady fair and square and you also know the circumstances behind why we where stripped of our rank." Naruto said his eye's darkening as he mentioned being stripped of his title.

"Yeah your right Naruto and you don't even really use your sponsorship terms to the fullest, and I'm sorry I didn't mean to dredge up painful memories Naruto-kun." The woman said reaching out across the counter to squeeze his left shoulder.

It was then that she noticed the wounds on his face and she said, "Oh my god Naruto what did you do?" She asked concern apparent in her voice.

"Nothing I just got into a tussle with a few goons." Naruto said trying to brush away the situation. 'That goon just had to use a knife didn't he…'

"Looks like they tried to kill you…" She said this time lifting up the end of the counter and coming close to the boy to inspect the wound.

She grabbed his good cheek and twisted his head to survey the damage. "This looks like a stitched up knife wound. What exactly did you do?" she asked letting go of his face.

"I ran into three low level Yakuza thugs trying to rape a girl so I did what I thought was right and stepped in and took them out." Naruto said defending his actions.

"Well at least you had good intentions but you need to be more careful they could have killed you." She said before sighing and going back behind the counter to finish filling the Bottle."

"So you like the HPA system?" She asked changing the subject.

"Yeah shoots cleaner than my CO2 did on my spyder." Naruto said before thinking about it a little.

"It was pricy but I like that refills are included on my membership around here." He said. With the time he had played sense buying the tank it had almost paid for itself.

"Well anyways could you get that paint for me I kind of want to go and warm up a bit before the others get here." Naruto said as she handed him his HPA (High Pressure Air) tank back to him.

"Yeah how much you want?" she asked smiling.

"Go ahead and bring out 12 cases we'll bring back what we don't shoot on our drills and stuff." Naruto said and she nodded and stepped into the back room to bring out the paint.

She returned a moment later, "Try not to shoot it all, it's cheap practice paint but it adds up Naruto." She said sounding a little flustered.

"Come on Shizune-chan we play under genin rules no ramping uncapped semiautomatic fire." Naruto said, "It would be a challenge for us to shoot that much paint."

"I know I know but still it's expensive to supply you guys with that much paint. (Roughly $444 worth) we need to get you guys back in the game as Genin and maybe start turning a profit from you." She said before pushing the hand cart past the counter to the waiting boy.

"I would like to get back to tournaments as well but you know everyone we have given a shot hasn't meshed with us." Naruto said taking the cart from the girl.

"Yeah I know what you mean but maybe someone will come along." She said.

"Oh hey! Shizune can you do me a favor?" Naruto asked her.

"Sure what is it?" She asked.

"Tell the others we'll be on field 6. and also I invited someone to play with us to day, She's never played before she's about your size with short cropped blue black hair and lavender eye she'll walk in a look completely out of place. Could you page me when she comes in?

"Yeah sure Naruto who is she?" Shizune asked curious as to who the boy invited.

"She's the girl I saved yesterday. Her Names Hinata and she reminds me of my self and others on the team as well." He said smiling before heading out the back door towards his teams training field.

Shizune only smiled and laughed a bit, 'that boy will never cease to amaze me.' She thought before going back behind the counter to finish filling the rental tanks for the day.

Hinatas day started in similar fashion to Narutos in the sense that she woke up alone and ate breakfast by herself with the exception of the maid staff. Her sister had spent the night at a friend's house and her cousin Neji had was with her father in the land of waves.

After she finished her meal she went back to her room to change and prepare for the day. 'What should I wear; I have never been to a Paintball field before.' She thought go through her closet looking for something to wear. 'Everyone wore baggy clothing with long sleeves yesterday.' She thought after a while before picking out her baggiest jeans witch were still tight as popular fashion dictates and a long sleeved t-shirt that she hopped wouldn't be to hot in the Konoha summer. She also elected to wear a sports bra out of the necessity of possibly playing and having to run around. She threw the close on and looked in the mirror and could help but feel a little tomboyish. With a small grin she walked out of her bedroom and left her house to make way to the field.

Naruto guided the hand cart into the netted area that separated the playing field from the outdoor staging area each of the fields at P.O.K (Paintball of Konoha) was separated from a courtyard area where you could work on your guns and relax between games. The parks rules where really simple if you're not on a field your gun is supposed to be turned off or have its safety engaged and your barrel blocked by a barrel sleeve, basically a cloth sock that covers the barrel of each gun and is held in place by an elastic band that wraps around the gun. And before you step foot on a field you have to be wearing your mask, failure to abide by these rules could get you ejected from the park.

He existed the final staging area where players would typically secure there masks and uncover or cover there markers depending on if they where coming or going and moved over to the picnic table where he had set his gear bags and began to go through it he started by pulling out his Jersey it matched his pants with the digital urban cammo print and the Invert logo placed on the front the also pulled some Knee and forearm pads out as well before placing them on his person. One those where on his arms and underneath his pants he removed the t-shirt he was wearing and slipped into the baggy Jersey that matched his paintball pants. Most serious players favored this type of specialized clothing because it offered a lot of special protection the knees of the pants where padded to offer protection against the earth when sliding and diving into cover while the jerseys had a little extra padding in the shoulders and forearms and fit loosely to aiding making balls bounce instead of break.

He reached back in and pulled out a pair of black fingerless gloves and slipped them on. One notable thing about these glove was that the index and middle fingers of each glove where joined allowing for greater mobility in those two fingers while still giving adequate protection to his knuckles (It hurts getting shot there because the bone is super close to the skin no fat or muscle padding.) as well as added grip to hold on to the marker.

He also put on some cleats used in football they offered great traction on the dirt fields at this park. As well as a black head band to keep the sweat off out of his eyes. Finally he pulled out his mask one of the E-Vents series masks made by empire, this one matched his other gear with the same urban cammo pattern but it had a chrome mirror lens in place and he looked it over briefly before setting it on the table and producing the last three items in his gear bag one was a pod pack basically a lumbar back brace that had several pouches that opened at the bottom via Velcro buckles. It currently had four pods inside of it. Commonly called pods they where nothing more than a plastic tube that held roughly one hundred forty paintballs that players used to reload there hoppers during the game. The second item was his loader a Dye Rotor one of the fastest loaders on the market he had just saved up the money for it a few months ago and he had to say he liked it. It could feed as fast as he could shoot and still had a small enough profile to not put him at a disadvantage while allowing for a decent capacity. And the last was his tank and a black box.

The box had a circle in the middle with three arrow heads coming off of it forming and upside down triangle. And the circle also had three spikes attached to it one between the arrow heads. And above the logo the words dangerous power was printed in block text and in big block letters G3 was written beneath it. Naruto opened the box and produced the two parts to the gun. The actual gun and the barrel that went with it both of witch where dust black in finish, he screwed in the barrel and then the tank and finally he placed his loader in the feedneck and clamped it shut. Looking at the marker you could see some resemblance to the real thing if you excused the giant mass of the loader that sat on top of it and the air tank hanging off the back end. But rough shape was the only similarity it shared with an actual firearm. With a smile he placed his pack on his back and grabbed his mask before walking back to the final staging area to load up on paint before making his way onto the field.

After filling the four pods and his loader he walked on the field and dropped his mask down into position over his face. And decided to begin his work out, first he decided to warm up with some stretches and push ups before running a few laps around the field with his marker in hand using the weight of his gear to build better endurance. After finishing that he stood on the side of the field along the out of bounds line and looked down it before running suicides down the tape. He would stop at each spot a bunker was present and slap the ground and run back to where he started. But to make the drill harder he would start with the gun in one hand and switch it to the other as he ran to hit the ground with the hand that previously held the marker. This served not only to aid his workout but improve his ability to switch hands and hold the marker in the off hand.

As he finished his suicides to the center of the field and back he heard a voice. "Man Naruto you're so troublesome you get hear and work out earlier than everyone else." Naruto looked up to see five other people standing with the owner of that voice and smiled through his mask not those they could tell.

"Well you know me Shikamaru I want to be the best." He said as he reached the others.

"Yeah and it's troublesome." The boy now identified as Shikamaru said. He was dressed similar to Naruto except his mask was shaped a little different it was slightly larger and looked like it had more padding around the jaw and neck area where naruto's was cut down for a lower profile. And instead of the cammo pattern of Naruto's mask Shikamarus was a flat black color except for a ring of blue that surrounded his smoke colored lenses.

"Well come on guys what do you say we get to work?" Naruto said pumping a fist and most of the others agreed exuberantly with the exception of Shikamaru who just muttered a Troublesome and sat about warming up."

They day so far had been fairly uneventful for Shizune with the exception of her boss coming in with a killer hangover witch wasn't really out of the ordinary. It was getting close to about two thirty and business was picking up as kids showed up to play on the various fields. "Here you two cases of stingers that will be, eighty-two twenty-three." She said to the four kids who where buying paint they paid for it and made there way out into the courtyard.

A few minuets went by before Shizune heard the door open, "Hello welcome to Paintball of Konoha my name is Shizune let me know if I can help you." She said reciting the automatic greeting that she was told to give out whenever a new customer walked in to the store.

She looked up and saw a girl with short cropped blue black hair with lavender eyes. 'Is this the girl Naruto was talking about?' she wondered as the girl looked around seemingly lost.

She smiled and got out from behind the counter to approach the girl. "Hello can I help you?" she asked with a friendly smile.

The girl looked at her for a moment and said, "Ano, um, I was looking for an f-friend of mine his n-name is Naruto Uzumaki. C-could you help m-me find him?" Hinata said extremely nervous being in a completely foreign environment.

"Yeah your Hinata right?" Shizune said

"Hai." Was the reply

"Naruto told me you would be coming by and to page him whenever you got in. So come with me to the front desk and we will get him." Shizune said before taking the girl by the hand and guiding her up to the counter.

'She's so shy but I can see it in her eyes she holds some pain like all of those kids.' Shizune thought while she took Hinata to the counter.

She got behind it again and walked over to the phone and pushed the intercom button. "Paging Naruto Uzumaki, Paging Naruto Uzumaki, Please come to the front desk." She said before she hung up the phone.

She turned to the girl and said, "He'll be here in just a bit and my name is Shizune by the way." She said formally introducing herself to the girl.

"I'm Hinata Hyuga." The girl said with a bow of her head.

"It's Nice to meet you Hinata and if your friends with Naruto then I sense we will have a long and fun friendship together." Shizune said before shaking the girl's hand.

"Really?" She asked looking at the girl. 'Oh man looks like Naruto is always around other girls how can I compete with that even if she is older.' She thought to her self but did well to keep the despairing look off her face.

Naruto and the rest of his team heard the page and Naruto smiled big. He looked around the picnic table they where resting at for a second and said, "Hang on a second guys my new friend just got here I'll be right back." He said getting up and leaving the others to sit and wonder who Naruto was talking about.

Naruto quickly made his way up the courtyard to the store entrance to see Hinata and Shizune waiting for him at the counter.

"Hey Hinata-chan I see you made it here ok." He said with a grin

Hinata got to look him over and she noticed that he was wearing the same cloths he had played in yesterday. But she assumed he had washed them sense yesterday because to dirt that was built up on them was no less than what she had seen and common sense said it would be worse if he hadn't. He also had his mask pushed up over his face obscuring his blond hair from view.

"H-hello Naruto-kun seems like you've been playing hard." She said with a small smile.

"Well yeah you got to play hard to get better." He said with a smirk.

"I see you met Shizune-nee." Naruto said as he finished closing the distance between himself and the girls.

"Yes she's been very helpful." Hinata said smiling while on the inside she thought, 'I might have a chance.'

"That's good what do you say we go meet the rest of the team?" He said while making a come here gesture with his hand.

"You mean the team that's standing right behind you?" a voice called out.

"What!" Naruto said surprised as they he turned around only to find himself face to face with the other five members of his team.

"Kiba what are you guys doing up here?" Naruto said sounding a little surprised to see them.

"Naruto you can be a real idiot sometimes the boy" in question said with a grin.

"You have to come here to get your tank filled you know that." He continued.

"I needed a refill so I said I was going up to the shop and everyone decided to follow me so we could meet your friend." A girl with pink hair said smiling.

"Come on Kiba it's not like you scored so much higher than me on your IQ test." Naruto said grinning at the boy.

Hinata looked over to the boy in question and saw that he was dressed similar to Naruto In fact everyone had on the same urban cammo print pants and jerseys though some where slightly more dirty than others.

Kiba himself stood at five foot ten and looked a lean 150 and his gear fit in a baggy fashion. His face while not chiseled was at least well defined but unlike the others he had two red streaks running down his cheeks from just below his eye's down to his jaw where they ended in a point like a fangs and his wild shaggy hair didn't do anything to take away from his slightly wild looking appearance..

"Quit trying to puff up your ego around the girls." Naruto said playfully to Kiba who had the decency to bush before breaking into a smile showing he was just playing around.

"Well sense my team came up here all ready might as well get the introductions out of the way." Naruto said stepping in between Hinata and his team.

"Hinata-chan I would like for you to meet my team the Maelstrom Militia, we were once Genin ranked but we had to drop out do to personal problems." Naruto said with a grin.

"Go ahead and introduce yourselves guys." Naruto said and Kiba stepped forward.

"My names Kiba Inuzuka and I play forward." The boy said with a grin that held borderline arrogance.

One of the two girls stepped forward and said, "Hello I'm Sakura Hurano, and I play Middle." She stepped forward and lightly shook Hinatas hand with her own gloved one.

Hinata smiled warmly at her, 'this must be the friend Naruto was talking about yesterday.' She thought. She was very pretty with pink hair that reached her shoulders but the top of her head was covered in a red bandana tied with a due rag fashion. And a face that held a certain cute quality to it. And even through the baggy paintball uniform you to tell she had an athletic figure.

The next to step up was a larger boy who was chewing on a piece of gum. "My names Chouji Akimichi, I'm a back player." He said before offering her a piece of gum. Hinata smiled at the bigger boy something in his tone of voice showed her that he had a kind and compassionate heart he stood tall at nearly six foot and broad shoulders and shaggy hair cut a lot shorter than Kibas.

Next a boy with a completely bored expression stepped forward and said, "I'm Shikamaru Nara and it'd be too troublesome to play any position other than back." He said his tone of voice matching his expression perfectly. He stood at roughly the same size as Naruto but was a little thinner than him and unlike some of the others who wore head bands and due rags he merely had his hair pulled up into a spiky pony tail at the top of his head. He had brown eyes and a sharp angular face that only served to further his bored expression.

"You'll have to forgive Shikamaru he's all ways bored. But he's a good friend and an excellent strategist" Naruto said putting a hand on Hinatas shoulder.

Everyone seemed to nod in agreement with Naruto so she only smiled as the next person stepped forward.

"I'm Tenten and I prefer if you call me that, and I play Middle." She said she was a little taller than Hinata but still was about half a head shorter than Naruto. She looked a little older than the other but only by a year or so at most. She had shoulder length hair Brown and she Hinata could see underneath the sandanna she wore over her hair. (A sandanna is like a due rag that continues down past your head to your shoulders.) Her face bore the heart shaped definition of a woman and made her brown eye's a highlight and Hinata could help but notice the florescent orange splatter that marked her right cheek. She shook the girls hand and that concluded the introductions.

"So Hinata did you come to play today?" Sakura asked, "Oh sorry Hinata-san I didn't mean to sound so familiar." Sakura said instantly catching her mistake.

"Sorry about that we don't get to caught up on formality on this team it slows down communications, not to mention we have been friends forever." Naruto said with a slight blush while scratching the back of his head.

"It's fine actually I get tired of formalities." Hinata said with a smile causing Sakura to sigh in relief she hadn't wanted to offend the girl, "I intended to but I have a few questions though first." She said

"Ok fine how about we go get some food from the concession stand and go grab a seat at those tables and we can answer any questions you have." Naruto said and every one nodded their assent some more jovial than others.

"ALL RIGHT FOOD!" Chouji said with a huge grin on his face.

"Chouji do you always have to think with your stomach?" Kiba said looking at the other boy through the corner of his eyes.

"Hmm," Chouji said aloud like he was in deep concentration before saying, "I don't know maybe…" for the enjoyment of the group.

The joke had its desired effect as everyone got a good chuckle out of the joke. Naruto walked up close to Hinata, "Hey just so you know don't Joke about Chouji's weight it's a sensitive subject with him. You can make as many comments about his love for food as you want but not his actual size. Ok?" He whispered in her ear.

He got a nod of yes from her before he smiled and they all continued over to the small food court.

They all waited in line before ordering either Hot Dogs or Hamburgers or something akin to that. After each ordered they would wait for there food and then go and sit down at the long picnic table that was set up in the sitting area to enjoy their meal.

Naruto waited while Hinata got her Hot dog before making his way over to where the others where sitting. The two sat down together and everyone began eating. Apparently everyone was quite hungry because everyone ate in silence. But after a few minutes everyone was relatively done save for Chouji who had finished both his Hamburger and Hot Dog and was now working on some Nachos.

"Man Chouji good thing you don't play front you'd burst trying to dive into the snake after eating all of that." Sakura said shaking her head at her friend's monstrous appetite

"Nah, this is a light snack compared to what mom cooks." The boy said and everyone had to agree because they had all seen how much Mrs. Akimichi prepared for dinner.

"So anyways Hinata you said you had some questions right?" Tenten said looking over to the lavender eyed girl who nodded her head, "Well fire away." she said making a gun with her fingers before shooting it across the table witch just happened to be pointed at Kiba. The wild boy grabbed his chest and let his face fall to the table to play dead for a few seconds causing the table to chuckle a bit.

"Ano I guess t-the first question I h-have is it safe?" she asked cursing herself for the stutter.

"Well Paintball is the Safest Extreme Sport in existence and even maintains a smaller injury percentage than other sports like Archery, Golf, and even Bowling." Shikamaru said still sounding bored as he swung his legs out from under to table to turn away from the rest of the group and lean back against the table.

"That must be extremely low." She said a little surprised that a sport like this could be so safe.

"Yeah point thirty-three percent per one thousand participants. Now that's not to say that injuries never happen because we still see the occasional sprain or broken bone but the chances of it happening are not much if any higher than those things happening in everyday life." Sakura added her two bits to the conversation.

"Ok so it's really safe, what are the positions you guys where talking about?" she asked, she had noticed that each of them gave a position when they introduced themselves and she wondered what they meant.

"Well you see in the type of Paintball we play there are three general positions you can play, Front, Middle and Back." Naruto said and then Kiba picked up.

"Front players are the tip of the spear and-"Shikamaru cut him off, "More like Pawns in Chess…" He said leaning his head back and closing his eye's

"What ever." Kiba said and Naruto laughed, "They are both right Front players are like pawns in chess because at the start of the game they try to take up as much of the field or game board as possible, and also serve as a teams main offensive weapon. I'm a front Player by the way." Naruto said

"So basically you attack the other team up close?" Hinata said understanding the concept.

"Right." Kiba said with a grin.

"What about the other positions?" she said

"Backs are a team's support unit at the start of the game they try to eliminate as many people as possible from across field through several different means. And then as the game progress they provide covering fire for the Mids and Fronts to allow them to move aggressively up the field." Chouji said between Nacho Chips.

"Ok I get that one." She said, "But what about the Mids?"

"Well it's easiest to explain the others first because the Middle players or Mids are swing players that play in the middle of the field. It's there job to take over for either front or back players that get taken out, like if Naruto goes and gets shot off the break then it' would be me or Tenten that would have to take his place." Sakura said.

"Or if Shikamaru got taken out one of us would fill in for him and begin fire support duties." Tenten added.

"Not like I ever get shot or anything…" Naruto said with a grin as everyone looked at the blond.

"Sure you don't…" Shikamaru said with a slight smile.

"You go out all most every game." Sakura said laughing.

"I was kidding, but I usually manage to take a few with me." Naruto said smiling.

Hinata was starting to feel at ease with the group around her. Everyone seemed really nice including the always slothful Shikamaru and the Brash Kiba.

"Now then how about we introduce you to the greatest sport on earth?" Naruto said looking at Hinata.

"W-Well o-ok…" she said.

Everyone looked at her for a minuet before Chouji said, "It's ok Hinata there nothing to be nervous about we are all pretty good but we didn't start out that way and we'll even take you out onto our practice field and show you some basics before we start playing." He said with a reassuring smile while everyone else nodded their head in agreement. And Naruto reached out and gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Thank you guys I'm just not used to people being so nice to me." Hinata said looking down at the table.

"Where do you go to School?" Sakura asked shocked that such a nice girl didn't receive the same treatment that she willing gave to everyone else.

"Come to think of it I have never seen you around our campus before." Shikamaru said looking thoughtful.

"Well y-you I a-attend the K-Konoha Leaf Academy." She said slightly afraid that they might not except her any longer and label her as prep.

"You mean the Leaf Academy, as in the Prep-school.?" Chouji said a little shocked to hear that the girl attended the most prestigious school in the city.

"Y-yes." She said sounding slightly defeated.

"I thought everyone who went there had there noses so high they'd drown if it rained hard enough." Tenten said the shock evident in her voice as well.

"Well that t-true." She said a little more dejection showing up in her voice.

"Well I guess it just goes to show you can't judge a book by its cover." She Tenten continued as Hinata looked up with a mildly and looked at the girl with a blank shocked expression on her face.

Tenten's face showed a large grin and her eye's held a certain light that told Hinata that the girl didn't think anything of her Prep school up bringing.

She in turn looked to each individual face and saw a similar look on each of them except for Shikamaru he still just looked board. And a few more seconds the table couldn't help but burst into laughter of the side splitting kind.

"What's so funny?" Hinata asked pouting getting that they where laughing at her expense.

"Well…" Naruto said before stopping to laugh he continued once he got it back under control after seeing the cute pout the girl wore, 'I really like those puppy eye's, better not let Jiraiya know about it.' He thought before saying, "It was just that blank shocked expression on your face it's kind of funny looking on you."

"Jerk!" Hinata said before playfully punching him on the arm. Well playfully to Naruto but Hinata actually was trying to hurt the blond.

"Ok, Ok were sorry to worry you like that but we could honestly care less about your school." He said and the others agreed.

"But one question did you wear that to play in?" Sakura asked and Hinata nodded a yes.

"Did you bring something to wear afterward?" She asked.

"Um no I didn't I can't believe that I didn't think about that…" Hinata said blushing and hanging her head in mild embarrassment.

"I mean I'm only going to play Paintball it implies messiness…" she said shaking her head.

Everyone got another chuckle out of it before Tenten said, "Don't worry I think I might have some extra gear for you to use so you don't ruin any of your clothing." She said.

"Really?" Hinata said looking hopeful.

"Yeah and it'll give you some padding so you can slide and stuff with out screwing you knees up." She said, "Come with me out to my car and I'll see what I can find for you."

She stood up and Hinata stood to follow her. "Here take my marker with you guys and reload my pack for me." She said before handing the gun to Shikamaru and the Pod pack to Naruto and walking off while gesturing to Hinata to follow her.

Naruto nodded and the two girls made there way for the door while the others stood up head back to the field. "So what do you think of her?" Naruto asked looking at the others.

"She seems like a real nice girl Naruto, and she seems to like us and she doesn't seem to mind the teasing and joking and she's starting to play along. Now all that's left to see is if she has any possible talent." Shikamaru said as they made there way for the courtyard exit.

"Yeah I hope she dose well cause she actually gets's along with us." Sakura said.

"You'd just be happy to have another Girl on the team." Kiba said as they walked back into the Court yard.

"So…" she said.

"Ok let's see how the rest of it goes." Naruto said with a large grin on his face.

The two girls walked back outside the store and into the parking lot and Tenten lead the way down to where her car was parked. It was an older model Nisan perfect for a teen's first car because it was already beat up enough that it didn't matter if said teen beat it up a little more.

Tenten walked over to the driver's door and unlocked the car before opening the door to hit the release to the trunk.

"You'll have to forgive the mess…" She said before shutting the door and walking around to the now open trunk.

True to her word the back of the car was a mess full of clothing both normal and Paintball related.

Tenten Began rummaging through the trunk before producing a pair of pants and a Jersey as well as an old pair of gloves and a mask.

"Here they are kind of old but they will work and spare your cloths from an early grave." She said with a smile.

Hinata looked at the cloths this being her first time to get a good look at them. The pants where similar to windbreakers except that they where made of much stronger material and had padding surrounding the knee and upper shin area. They where primarily with black with red and grey accents on the thighs and then black and grey accents where on the built in knee pads, they where a little frayed in the knee but still in good condition.

Next she looked at the jersey and saw it was almost solid black save for the Yellow empire logo on it and two splashes of yellow along the ribs and down the arms. The mask looked to be in good shape and had a yellow lens in it and the gloves where blue and black full fingered gloves

"OH hey I've been looking for that…" Tenten said and she pulled out an electronic hopper. She hit the power and the hopper bussed to life a little. "Hey the batteries still work." She said before shutting it off and tossing the loader onto the small pile of cloths the girl was holding, "here you can use this with the rental marker so you can shoot faster than gravity." She said with a smile.

"Thank you Tenten-san." Hinata said smiling at the girl's kindness.

"Not a problem and just call me Tenten please." The older girl said and the two went back inside to get Hinata changed and rejoin the others.

Naruto and the others had just finished getting everything ready for Hinata when she and Tenten arrived Naruto looked to see that she had been dressed in Tenten's old Empire Contact pants and Jersey and was wearing her old Invert Avatars and was caring a Rental gun with a Electronic hopper attached.

The rental gun it's self was a flat black marker with a fourteen inch barrel. Naruto recognized it as a Smart Parts Ion after discerning the body was made from high impact plastic. Attached to the gun was a Pure Energy forty-five cubic inch three thousand pounds per square inch High Pressure tank used on the fields rental markers. She also was wearing the four pod Harness given with the speed ball rental package. Naruto also noted the Empire Re-Loader B attached to the guns clamping feedneck*.

"Wow, Hinata you look like a Baller…" where Naruto's words.

Hinata smiled and a blush instantly at the comment and the others all grinned in her direction.

"But that's only half of the battle. Now you got to learn how to ball." Sakura said and with that the group made there way onto the field dropping there mask's before walking through the nets.

Hinata followed there lead and dropped the mask down in front of her face and she could instantly tell that her peripheral vision wasn't as good as it used to be

"You'll notice you can't see out the corner of your eye's quite as well as you used to but it's not that big of an issue." Tenten said.

"Right now let's get to work…" Naruto said as his team lined up behind him along the left sideline of the field.

"First off is shooting posture." Naruto said bringing his gun up into the shooting position. His bottle was right in front of his armpit and his arms where drawn in tight and close together, so as not to offer too much of a target to his opponents and his feet were about shoulder width apart with his knees liberally bent offering a stable and accurate shooting platform.

"You want to make sure to keep everything nice and low if you mount your bottle up to high you'll expose your hopper making you an easy target for any Noob out there." Naruto said, still in his shooting posture.

"You see the rules state that if you are hit by a paintball and it breaks and this includes from the top of your head to the tips of your toes and you gun and equipment as well your out. Now if it bounces off you and doesn't break then you can play on." Naruto said.

"Now the hopper is a small target yes but it's made from hardened plastic and breaks balls really easy so keep it tucked in nice and low so it can't be shot from over cover with ease." Shikamaru said explaining why posture was important.

Naruto still held his posture. "You see the way he's holding his gun?" Kiba said looking at the girl behind the black avatars.

"Yes." She said before looking surprised she sounded supper loud.

"If you are hearing your self more than normal that's normal by the way. The mask's only have small ports for ventilation to better protect your face but having that plastic there causes some sound to be directed back into you face so you'll hear yourself a lot more. And you might need to yell louder than normal in a game to be heard." Sakura said catching the girl's surprise.

"Well anyway Kiba said. You see the way he holds his marker?" Kiba asked again and Hinata nodded an affirmative.

Naruto had the front grip part of the gun witch she learned was the high pressure regulator cupped in his hand from the bottom up and was only using his thumb to hold the marker level and had two fingers stuck through the trigger guard.

"You want to make sure to hold you maker loosely with your trigger hand as not to restrict your fingers ability to move." He said and she nodded.

Naruto broke posture and said, "Ok Hinata go ahead and assume shooting posture." And the girl brought her gun to bear on a bunker facing away from the team.

"Ok good looks pretty good just remember to keep your gun low to minimize hopper presence and hold the gun primarily with the regulator hand." Naruto said and the other picked out a few tiny flaws for her to work on and gave her the green light to shoot.

"Ok first go ahead and put a pod of paint into the loader." Chouji said stepping forward.

"First you're going to need to pull a pod from your pack." He said, "The best way to do this is to take your hand and reach back like your going to scratch you lower back with your forearm facing in to you." He said showing her the motion on his own pack.

Hinata followed suite reaching behind her with her forearms pointing inwards she pulled open the Velcro hitch and gripped the cylinder and pulled it free she brought the pod up and had the lid facing up ready to open.

"Good next use your thumb to open the lid." He said doing so with a pod of his own.

She did, "Now the loader that you are using has a special lid on it called a speed feed. All it is a trap door that let's paint in but not out. It will let you reload really fast because you don't have to fiddle with a lid." He said this time walking up to her and showing her the way her speed feed worked.

"Now what you do is use your thumb to open the lid and then dump the paint into the speed feed by putting the tip of the pod near the lip of the loader and turning it up." He did that and the pod emptied into the loader.

She did so as well as was pleased that she only dropped four or so paintball's. She bent down to pick them up and Naruto stopped her.

"Hey Hinata don't ever put paintballs in your gun from off the ground, once the balls come in contact with the ground moisture can cause them to swell making them not soot correctly. Not to mention they get covered in dirt and grit and you don't want that going through your marker." He said and the girl dropped the offending balls in her hand.

"Sorry." She said and angled her head down a bit showing her embarrassment.

"It's ok you didn't know better we where all noobs once right guys?" He said and the others all agreed with him.

"Ok now the fun part shooting the paint you just put into your loader." Sakura said and quickly taught her how to turn on her marker.

"Go a head and take a few shots at the Dorito across the field." Naruto said before pointing to a pyramid shaped inflatable across the width of the field. It was one of five that went all the way across the right side of the field.

Hinata raised the marker up into the shooting position and pulled the trigger but instead of the powerful kick she half way expected there was hardly any at all as the marker mad a popping noise and she heard the hopper spin.

"Go ahead and keep shooting." Naruto said and the girl shot again, and then again. She continued to shoot steadily for a few seconds before she smiled and looked over to Naruto. It was really fun to shoot at that inflatable bunker.

"Come on Hinata you got to shoot faster than that try it like this." Naruto said before raising his G3 and firing off several shots much faster than Hinata, causing his gun to create a sound similar to pop corn popping fast.

"You got to learn to walk the Trigger." Shikamaru said as he walked up and brought his gun to bear on the Doritos she had been shooting at.

"Alternate pulling the trigger with both your index and middle triggers to make your gun shoot faster, it's troublesome but sometimes accuracy by volume is the best solution to get a key elimination." He said.

Hinata did as told and she managed to make the gun fire at a much faster rate but it wasn't quite as steady as the two boys.

"See it's not that hard another technique you could use is called raking the trigger instead of the walking method." He said before demonstrating the raking technique.

"To rake a trigger you slide your finger up and down it rather quickly but with the blade style triggers on most markers it doesn't work as well as walking." He said, "But experiment for a bit and see what you think." He said before going back to stand with the others.

She tried Raking a bit before deciding that she liked walking the trigger a little better as she could shoot faster.

"Ok now then on to the next part." Naruto said and the training session began in earnest.

They showed Hinata how to use different bunkers in ways to minimize the exposed parts of her person and equipment as well as each bunkers name. While explaining how a paintball field was divided up into yard lines with As well as to run and shoot at the same time by keeping her knees bent to allow a more stable shooting platform on the move. Then they began running drills the first of witch she had to move to a bunker that they would randomly call out as fast as possible and then shoot a bunker that was called out once she made the first bunker before moving to the next one all the way across the field.

Then her favorite part the breakouts. They explained that at the beginning of each match every one had to be touching the penalty box called the Dead Box with there marker and when the refs blew to opening whistle everyone would break away from the box and play out the game. It was like ordered chaos Hinata crunched some numbers when they told her that the average recreational player shoots at about fifteen balls a second. Even In a seven on seven game there could be up to one hundred and five paintballs in the air in the first second of the game and have the potential to have over a thousand paintballs shot within the first ten seconds.

They also showed her how to hip-slide, baseball slide and Superman dive into bunkers at just the right time to maximize cover.

"OK well you survived the gauntlet and remember most of what we taught so now how about we go play some walk on?" Naruto said as they finished the last break out drill.

"Or you could play us…" a voice sounded behind the team.

"Come on guys it's her first time playing and you know we aren't ranked anymore." Chouji said as he and the other Militia members plus Hinata turned to face the seven newcomers. They all wore blue jerseys with the Dye Logo on them and had matching pants like the Militia. But each wore a head band that had the same leaf symbol that was on Hinata's school uniform.

"So now the Infamous Maelstrom Militia is too afraid to play us because they aren't ranked and they have a Noob playing with them."

"Why you! I'm going to make you eat those words." Kiba said none too nicely.

"KIBA!" Naruto yelled his voice was hard showing that all good humor had left his demeanor.

Kiba stiffened for a moment before a Sigh escaped his mask. But his stance still was aggressive and you could see the agitation rolling from his shoulder.

"ooh… I see that your captain keeps you on a short leash Kiba." One of the boys said in a mocking tone.

"That's enough if your done talking trash you and the rest of your team can leave." Naruto said stepping up to stand in front of his team and before the newcomers.

Hinata was starting to feel just as angry as the rest of Naruto's team. 'These guys are real jerks.' She thought coming to stand with the other members of the Militia.

"What's the matter Naruto? Can't ball without your precious butt buddy Sasuke?" The boy said stepping up ahead of the rest of his teammates.

"THAT'S IT!" Naruto yelled before dropping his G3 and lunging at the boy only to be held back by Chouji and Kiba.

"Hey come on Naruto he's not worth it." Chouji said trying to calm the enraged blond.

"NARUTO!" Another new voice called out and Naruto instantly went slack against his Teammates.

Everyone looked back to the entrance of the field and saw a woman standing there with long blond hair. She was tall standing at about five foot eight and wearing four inch heels. She had on a pair of dark blue capries and matching top with a green jacket on over it.

"Naruto you know my policy about fighting at my field." She said in a cool voice that held a hard threat within it.

"You heard what he said…" Naruto said sounding like he had his hand caught in a cookie jar.

"That's no excuse; if you got issues settle them at three hundred feet per second." She said.

"B-"He began before Hinata cut him off.

"Let's face them." She said walking up next to Naruto.

"But you've never been in a game situation before and these guys are ranked players." Naruto said.

"So you don't think I can do it?" She asked her violet eye's smoldering behind the yellow lenses.

"No it's not that I don't think you can but do you really want to jump in with ranked tourney players?" He asked looking at her.

Hinata looked right into his mask before raising hers showing that her face was set and determined if not a little flushed from the heat and running.

"Ok then how about the rest of you?"

"I don't know about you guys but I feel like they've forgot how they came into their rank in the first place." Kiba said and put his hand out in a fist.

"Yeah I have to agree." Chouji said adding his hand on top of his and Sakura and Tenten's soon followed after.

"It's troublesome but they made me mad." Shikamaru said adding his hand to the pile.

Naruto came over and looked at his teammates "Thanks guys you always got my back" and added his hand on top.

Hinata looked lost, 'I'm not part of the team am I?' she thought as she watched them all circle up and she couldn't help but feel left out.

"Hinata get in here!" Sakura called waving her over with her marker.

"But I'm not on your team." She said.

"Consider yourself a prospect then." Naruto said waving her over as well.

She couldn't help but smile as she dropped her mask down a squeezed in between Naruto and Tenten.

"How are we on paint and air?" Naruto asked as Hinata placed her hand on top of the pile.

"Topped off and ready to rock they came at just the right time boss." Tenten said.

"All right that's good but I'm sorry about flying off the handle like that guys." He said sounding regretful.

"It's ok Naruto we understand and it made us all mad so let's make them pay in orange."

"Right ok well then whose TIME IS IT?" Naruto yelled out suddenly and the other five members of the Militia answered back, "OUR TIME!" They all responded.

Hinata was caught off guard as they all started yelling.

Naruto noticed that Hinata didn't yell with them so he did it again, "whose TIME IS IT?"

"OUR TIME!" They all yelled louder and this time the girl joined in unable to help but feel pumped at the pre game ceremony.

"THAT'S RIGHT THIS IS OUR TIME! NOW WE SHOW THEM WE STILL GOT IT AND THEY ONLY MADE GENIN ON A TECHNICALITY!" He yelled "WE ARE SMARTER, FASTER, STRONGER, AND WE HAVE ONE WEAPON THEY DON'T HAVE!" He continued yelling.

"WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOOSE AND THAT MAKES US VERY DANGEROUS PEOPLE!" This got everyone yelling

"MILITIA ON THREE!" He yelled, "ONE, TWO, THREE!"

"**MILITIA!" **they all yelled and brought their hands up together.

Hinata's hand shot up with the others and underneath her mask a grin the size of the fire nation was spread across her face.

Naruto picked up his gear and together they all approached the other team.

"That was truly moving but let's ball." The other boys taunted before pushing there way past Hinata and the others.

"Okay go and get on the field guys." Tsunade said and four refs walked on the field each wore a pair of Paintball pants of differing brands and individual masks but each of them wore a Black and white Referee's jersey marking them as an official.

One walked up to the fourteen teens and said, "All right this is an exhibition match between the Maelstrom Militia and Pandemonium under Genin Rules. The match will go to best two out of three rounds; do I need to explain the rules?"

Hinata looked at the ref who sounded very bored and unlike a lot of Paintball players he didn't ware any kind of head gear beyond the mask. Hinata could understand why because the man was tall and lanky and behind his low profile mask which she would later learn is an I4 made by Dye, and his long Silver hair that stood up and an impossible angle.

"No we got it Kakashi." Naruto said and the other team nodded likewise.

"OK then Militia call it in the air!" he said before taking a coin from his pocket before showing the leaf as heads and a flame as tails. He flicked it up into the air with his thumb and Naruto followed it behind his E-Vents.

"Head…" He said as it began its downward decent.

The coin struck and Kakashi said, "Heads Maelstrom Picks."

"We will take the Home Box." Naruto said and his team walked around the Pandemonium guys to line up in a breakout formation the whole coin toss is more of a formality than a necessity because the Speedball fields are all mirrored so that both halves are Identical.

They all lined up and Naruto said, "Okay let's run the same break we just did that means you will be following me into the Snake Hinata but stay in snake one until I make snake three. Then move to two." She nodded her head affirmative before checking her gear over one more time before the start of the match. She kind of felt nervous because if Naruto got shot out she would have to play snake. But she wasn't too worried because Shikamaru would be in the Aztec behind them.

Kiba was going to be playing the Dorito side of the field with Chouji playing corner and then Sakura was to play back center before bumping into the Rollie at right thirty while Tenten slipped up into the tall Spike at Left forty

"Ten Seconds!!!" Kakashi called sounding the warning for the start of the game. Everyone made sure that their markers where touching the deadbox and shifted their weight onto their leading foot to take off.

The Field was enveloped in a all encompassing silence no one spoke it was all most as if they had stopped breathing or that time itself ceased to function as we know it.

If you where to look into Hinata's mask you would see her pupils Dilate causing her violet eye's to shrink behind the amber lens. And her breathing slow as he eye lids shuts as she searched for her center.

Suddenly Kakashi raised an air horn and gave it a blast and as one everyone started moving like a coordinated dance. Naruto was crouched low as he ran leaning low to the ground almost defying gravity as he sprinted ahead of Hinata who was hot on his heals as he Shouted "GO! GO! GO!" While Shikamaru shot over the top of their heads while aiming down a lane as he ran for the snake corner bunker.

"Snake Corner's A G! G1" Hinata heard Shikamaru call meaning that the enemy snake corner got shot out and was gone. Leaving six people on the other team, as Hinata saw Naruto finally hung lower than he should have been able to and then he pushed off with both feet and flew low through the air his palms up with his marker in his right hand as he entered the snake.

He landed on his forearms and chest and came sliding into the first cake in the beam and cake snake. While Hinata put her gun in the right hand as she let her left leg drop and slid into the first cake on her hip. She came to rest inside the protection of the bunker before she popped out the left side and fired at the person Sakura wash fighting with in her mirrored bunker at their thirty. She put him in the Rollie but not before Sakura got an orange blotch for her trouble. "I'm out!" Sakura yelled to her team raising her hand and making way to the dead box to wait out the field.

"Hinata Fill in for Sakura I will hold down the Rollie!" Shikamaru said as he put a fresh pod of paint into his hopper via the Virtue Crown speed feed on his Halo B. He came out and set the Bob Long Intimidator to work upon the right Center thirty. Keeping the guy in the bunker as Hinata moved from snake one to the Rollie at their thirty she came sliding in on her knees as the guy snapped out of the left side Hinata thinking fast fired a few shot's seeing the yellow paint splash into existence upon the players neck and loader. But then she felt the sting of a strike on her left arm and a cloud of orange blocking the right side of her vision. "I'm out!" She yelled as Shikamaru made the G count for her. Dead players where only aloud to declare their elimination and make their way off the field.

Mean while Kiba was looked in a gun fight a guy in Dorito one while Chouji fought the back player in the Aztec in Dorito Corner. Kiba himself was in Dorito two a mere five feet or so from Tenten who was looked in a snap battle with a guy in the back center Cake.

He heard Shikamaru make the G count announcing that two were gone. He did a quick look around and saw that it was a five v five as Naruto was locked in a gun fight in snake two against a mirror player. (Mirrored players are players in the same bunker on opposite sides of the field.)

He snapped out and put two balls down field witch only caused the plunking slap of hitting the bunker instead of his target. 'This guys good' he thought as his opponent returned the favor sending a little spray across his goggles.

'I need to end this.' He thought snapping out again to put the guy in.

"Yo! Chouji!" He called back to his man in Dorito Corner.

"Put in D one!" He yelled.

"I'm a little Busy Kiba!" Chouji yelled as he sent a few balls towards his mirror.

"Great well when you get a Sec!"Kiba said popping out from the right side of the Dorito trying a wrap on the guy he was fighting it was a high risk maneuver where he moved around the right side of the bunker trying to shoot the left side of his opponent. But of course he managed get back in the bunker before Kiba could hit him.

"Damn It!" Kiba said becoming frustrated as he reached behind his back for a pod, 'only got one pod left got to make it count.' He thought as he dumped it into the hopper.

He snapped out again and found that his guy was not out but the player in the Dorito corner was so he shot and in tandem with Chouji managed to mark the guy bad enough to get him out of the game. "G3! G3! Dorito Corner is a G! Kiba called as he left his bunker firing at D one keeping that player in bunker as he round the corner on him and stitched him up four to the chest changing the front of his jersey Yellow. But the guy managed to light Kiba up with six to the legs and hip. "I'm out!" they both called while Chouji Updated the count.

The game was shifting into Maelstrom control as Naruto fought with his Mirror in the Snake and was quickly losing his temper twice Naruto had painted the barrel of his opponent yellow for the paint to magically disappeared after the guy snapped back into his bunker.

He heard Chouji make the G count showing that four opponents where gone. While Kiba declared his removal from the game. Naruto forgot about the wiper in the snake for a second as Shikamaru held him down so he looked down field for a cross shot he noticed a Pandemonium player attempting to insert into the first Dorito to replace the guy they just lost and keep the field wide.

Naruto Posted up and saw yellow splash to life on the side of his opponent's chest as he slid into the Dorito only to stand up and exit the game. "G5! G5! Dorito one is a G!" Naruto yelled

"Naruto Chouji and Tenten have Back center in tight run'em down and finish this!" Shikamaru yelled as Chouji and Tenten both shouted "NOW! NOW! NOW!"

Naruto reached behind his back and quickly loaded up his last pod and then stood up in the snake before hopping the beam and sprinting down the field. As he passed the unsuspecting player in the snake looked up and got a full five to the face covering his goggle in yellow fill with bits of pink shell.

The guy didn't get a shot off so he cut up towards back center and shot at him as well and they both traded hit to the chest. "I'm out!" The voices said in unison unfortunately two of them where the last Pandemonium players.

Tenten ran over to the center fifty and pulled the flag that Kakashi had set their and walked it over to the Pandemonium Dead box and touched the flag to it after exchanging a High five with her comrade for the awesome run through.

"Good Job Naruto!" she said as they passed.

Kakashi raised his horn and gave a blast ending the game. "Militia wins Point!" he called loudly.

"Let's see you wipe that off ass hole!" Naruto said to the Guy who had been in the snake as he tried to clean his mask using the back side of his glove to see a bit better.

That seemed to cause the boy to snap as he through his mask off despite the markers on the field not being covered by the barrel socks endangering his own eye sight as he ran over to Naruto who was stunned by the guy's stupidity and the rage on his face.

Upon reaching him The boy reared back and slugged Naruto in the mask the soft rubber did take some of the power out but it still stung like hell and caused Naruto to lose balance and accidently fire his marker that was thankfully it was pointed to the ground so it harmlessly discharged into the ground despite the fact that it could have easily destroyed the boys eyesight for life.

It was right as Naruto hit the ground that Kakashi and the other refs tackled the boy like they were trained too protect the boys sight and grabbed his mask and placed it back on his head while the female ref Kurenai yelled, "everyone Down!" Everyone on the field dropped to a knee and placed their maker on the ground beside them.

"Barrel Socks ON NOW!" they heard Tsunade yell after they placed the idiots mask on.

Everyone hastily complied and Tsunade and Shizune both walked onto the field it was quite easy to see that she was pissed.

"All right masks off everyone I want to see your faces." She said her voice was cold and held the hard edge of anger.

Everyone complied even Hinata who had followed behind in the wake of the pissed women. She motioned for everyone to gather close and with a little reluctance they did.

"What the HELL is your problem?" she asked yelling at the boy who punched Naruto.

He started to answer but Tsunade stopped him. "You know what I don't give a rats ass you have just earned yourself a lifetime ban from this field. And also as chairman of the ECPA's Fire country division I hear by Strip the Team Pandemonium of its rank and also bar you from tournaments for life as well as bar you team from tournaments for a period of no more than six months." She said as she skipped ahead to dishing out punishment.

"But!" one of the others said only for Tsunade to glare roughly at the boy who quickly shut up for fear of furthering his own punishment.

"Now go pack up your gear and get out of my sight." She said and the members of Pandemonium ran with their tails between their legs.

She turned to face the members of Naruto's team as they stood behind the women. "As for you guys…" she said still sounding angry

"That was a well played game and that newbie you picked up has some talent." She said smiling as the team let out a collective sigh.

"Thanks Baa-Chan we try?" Naruto said with a grin thankfully the guy who punched him punched the non injured side of his face

"So will she be a permanent add on?" She asked.

"Well what do you say Hinata you want to be part of the storm?" Naruto asked as all eye's turned to her instantly causing her cheeks to flush.

"Well I-"she said looking at the expectant faces around her, even Shikamaru looked expectant albeit bored.

"Yeah Come on Hinata you did awesome today." Tenten said smiling warmly at the girl, throughout the day she had taken on a liking to the girl (and in a non perverted way) and was hoping to get to know her better.

The others all added in their thoughts as well. And Hinata could only smiling a laugh a little when Naruto got down on his knees and clasped his hand together while pulling up some sapphire blue puppy eyes along with a long "Please?" As he walked closer to her much like a child begging.

"Fine I will I will!" she said as Naruto sprung up from his knees and gripped the girl around the middle before spinning her around a couple times while yelling, "All Right!"

He stopped spinning her around as the rest of the team drew near but he didn't let go of her middle section Tsunade saw this and decided to have some fun. "Hey Naruto either let her go or Kiss her all ready we're waiting…" she said this evoked an instant blush from both teens and cause them to split away as if Naruto's hands where burning.

"Not Funny Baa-Chan." Naruto said while everyone around laughed heartily at the two.

"So you'll really play for us?" Sakura asked happy to have another girl on the team.

"Yes." Hinata said with a smile this was perhaps one of the greatest days in her life.

"Awesome Welcome to the Team!" Kiba said happy to have their seventh slot filled.

"Now let's see we have an empty slot for Genin teams this year…" Tsunade said.

"Dose that mean we can get back into the league?" Naruto asked sounding hopeful.

"No it means I am going to have to have a tournament to see who will fill the slot, I can't just give you a slot." She said grinning evilly at the teens.

"Okay then we'll enter and win the Contest and we are going to own next season." Naruto said with absolute confidence.

"All right the tournament will be a month after the new school year starts." She said before walking off.

"All right we meet her then next week to start training." Naruto said

"Um o-one s-small problem Naruto." Hinata said cursing her stutter coming back.

"What's up Hinata?"

"I have to go to the Land of Waves for a "Vacation" with my father for a month." She said the word vacation with air quotes due to the fact she knew that it would only mean that she would be spending time alone with her sister and maybe her cousin as her father was always wrapped up in his business.

"Okay well then we will start training with you when you get back, until then business like normal guys.

"Okay then with that settled hand in." He said and everyone put a hand in to a pile in front of Naruto "Militia on three!"

"ONE! TWO! THREE!" Naruto yelled and together they all yelled "MILITIA!" As seven hand rose into the air.

Wow I know that it's been a long time sense I updated but sorry I was struggling with losing a job a Paintball Addiction and solid writers block but I wanted to finish this one and I will start work on the next chapter soon and try to get it out quick.

If you can't tell I love the game of paintball and I recommend everyone try it once that's the whole reason I started this story was to do something unusual and hopefully interest some of you in my favorite sport ever. I do have a plot outside of Paintball in this story and you will see a good portion of Naru/Hina romance as well as other pairings, despite the fact that I have kind of taken a Liking to Naru/Ten coupling as well but you will not see me do a Harem it just doesn't fit my story and I don't like those kind of stories any way. But I will give Tenten a bad ass part in my fic. Don't be surprised if you hear mention of music in my fic because I frequently listen to music while writing. But I don't plan on it being a song fic.

If you have any questions about paintball feel free to PM or Email me or surf over to www. techpb . com, and also please leave a review and tell me what you thought I love to hear from readers if you liked it tell me because that motivates me to keep writing and if you didn't like it tell me how to make it better.

Thanks for reading and see ya


End file.
